


There Can Be Only One (There Will Always Be Two)

by Drag0nst0rm



Category: Merlin (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Highlander Fusion, Gen, Immortal Arthur Pendragon (Merlin), Magic Revealed
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-22
Updated: 2020-07-22
Packaged: 2021-03-04 20:14:39
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,562
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25452232
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Drag0nst0rm/pseuds/Drag0nst0rm
Summary: Arthur is eighteen the first time he dies.It doesn't stick.
Relationships: Merlin & Arthur Pendragon (Merlin)
Comments: 23
Kudos: 335





	There Can Be Only One (There Will Always Be Two)

**Author's Note:**

  * For [MegMarch1880](https://archiveofourown.org/users/MegMarch1880/gifts).



> Happy birthday, MegMarch1880!

The first time Merlin dies, Arthur doesn’t hear about it until later. When he _does_ hear about it, he assumes Gwen must be exaggerating.

Not because he thinks it isn’t possible – he knows all too well that it is – but because Merlin is giving him only the usual kind of headache, and he knows by now that’s not what to expect from the kind of person who can come back from the dead.

Gaius and Gwen must have panicked. That’s all there is to it. The flower must have just taken a little longer than expected to start working because here Merlin is, just the same as ever. It’s fine.

He starts teaching Merlin the sword anyway, just in case.

Merlin may only be the usual sort of headache, but he can’t quite shake the feeling that there’s something off about Merlin, and maybe this is what Odin’s son had meant about being able to feel the potential in someone who is not quite immortal yet.

If that _is_ the case, Merlin needs to get a lot less hopeless with his sword. Fast.

If that’s not the case, Merlin still needs to get a lot less hopeless with his sword, fast, both because Merlin gets into far too many fights for comfort, Game or no Game, and because, frankly, his skills at present are an embarrassment to everyone involved. 

People are going to think Arthur’s a substandard teacher if this keeps up, and he will absolutely not be having that.

_The first time Arthur dies, he’s eighteen. He’s grateful for that, later. It lets him hide just how little he’s changing for – not a long time. Not in the grand scheme of things._

_But long enough._

The second time Merlin dies, Arthur doesn’t hear about it until years later. In his defense, the reason he doesn’t know about it at the time is because Arthur is also dying and somewhat preoccupied with how he’s going to talk his way out of this one.

The bite of the Questing Beast is supposed to be invariably fatal. He’s not sure how he’s going to explain it to everyone when he comes gasping back to life a few minutes after succumbing to it, and the poppy Gaius has been giving him for the pain isn’t helping him think any.

He doesn’t have to explain at all. He could just run. 

But that would mean leaving his father without a clear heir, which would throw Camelot into chaos, and more chaos is the last thing Camelot needs. He’s been pushing and pushing at his father to arrange a marriage already, but his father still refuses to quite see him as a man, and he’s running out of time.

He doesn’t know how long it will take for this magic to corrupt him. He’s not sure he’ll notice if it starts.

But Merlin will notice, and Merlin never hesitates to tell him exactly what he thinks, and Merlin is, currently, being extraordinarily nice, really, so he’s probably fine.

Later on, he’ll notice Merlin is really only extraordinarily nice when someone is dead, dying, or about to be. Or when Arthur has gone to the quiet place in his head where all the pain is dulled, and he doesn’t have to think about all the ways things have gone disastrously wrong.

But that’s later.

At the time, he’s too busy trying to decide if Gaius will accept being declared a genius for saving his life with a tincture of poppy that they both know full well wouldn’t have healed this.

He’s leaning towards _yes_ although that’s more of a hope than a reasoned speculation.

(It works, though. Obviously, he is a genius at strategy, and equally but concerningly obviously, Gaius has way too much experience lying to the king. Arthur would call him on that, but Arthur is also lying to the king, and Gaius knows a bit too much for a game of exposing secrets between them to end well.)

_He dies in a tournament when he’s eighteen, and he doesn’t even notice it happen._

_He doesn’t notice anything at all until Odin’s son challenges him to a duel and won’t take no for an answer._

_Arthur doesn’t know why it feels like there are bees swarming around his head._

_Odin’s son is a man of honor. He explains the rules of immortality quite courteously before trying to take Arthur’s head off._

The third time Merlin dies, the Dorocha have touched him, and Arthur is not buying Lancelot’s explanation, not even a little.

It doesn’t matter that Merlin is still only giving him headaches the usual way. Merlin died, he must have, and Arthur knows what that means.

Odin’s son had said something about gifts, hadn’t he? Additional magic that some of their kind were cursed with. He’d mentioned a witch that could compel others to do her will with her voice alone.

Maybe Merlin has something like that, something that lets him hide from other immortals. Arthur almost envies him if he does, extra magic or no extra magic.

He doesn’t hesitate to drag Merlin away from the others at the first opportunity. Either Merlin is a new immortal, in which case he must be even more horribly confused than he usually is by life, or he’s an older one, in which case maybe he can help _Arthur_ be less confused.

He’s not worried about a challenge. Merlin’s had plenty of time to do it properly, if he wanted, or to kill Arthur in his sleep, if he really is as hopeless with that sword as he acts.

Besides. It’s Merlin. If Merlin thinks tournaments are stupid, Arthur can only imagine what he must think of the Game.

“I know you’re immortal,” he says bluntly as soon as they’re far enough away from the fire that he can be sure the others won’t hear them.

Merlin’s eyes go huge. He looks like he’s going to be sick. “How – What – No, I’m not. Why would you say that?”

“Don’t be an idiot,” Arthur advises him, grabbing his arm before he can bolt. “Look. How much do you know about it?”

“Not . . . much?” Merlin squeaks.

Right. 

He starts from the beginning because it’s simpler that way – that Merlin would have been completely normal up until he died the first time, and then he would have stopped aging at all, that nothing can kill them except a beheading, and that they gain power by killing other immortals, so Merlin really needs to learn how to use a sword because no matter how well he hides, someone besides Arthur is eventually going to figure it out and try to take his head in the Game.

“There’s tricks you can use to look older,” he tells Merlin. “They main thing is just to look _different_ – if we can get you to gain some muscle, that should help for a while. After that, it’s just a matter of looking progressively more tired.” That last one had been an accidental discovery, but he fully credits it with him managing to get away with the deception for this long.

Another thought occurs to him, and he grimaces. He’s been counting on Merlin to keep him in check, to tell him if he starts acting . . . wrong. If Merlin is corrupted too now, he’s going to have to work out a new system. Unless they can act as checks on each other?

Merlin’s mouth is hanging open.

“Stop that, you’ll catch flies,” Arthur says, and it’s so normal, he can almost pretend this isn’t happening.

Merlin snaps it shut. “Um. I am . . . kind of? . . . immortal. I think. But. Um. It doesn’t have anything to do with – “ He waves his arms around in what Arthur realizes after a moment is an attempt to mime beheading someone. 

He sighs. “I know you’re not a fighter, Merlin, but – “

“I’m Emrys,” Merlin blurts out.

That . . . sounds . . . vaguely familiar? Maybe?

“I have magic.” He sounds a little desperate now.

“Immortality is difficult to achieve any other way, yes, Merlin.”

“No, I mean – “ He summons fire in one of his hands.

_“Oh.”_

That – will need dealing with. Probably. Although he has no idea how.

Also, it will have to wait because judging by the shouting coming from the camp, the Dorocha have arrived to wreak havoc again.

(And if he’s a little relieved because now all of Odin’s son’s dire warning about how there can be only one surely don’t apply . . . well. That’s no one’s business but his own.)

Later, much later, Merlin informs him that he is, in addition to being Emrys, also Dragoon the Great.

Apparently that whole business with the love potion was him trying to be helpful, which is Merlin all over, really.

Merlin insists that his incompetent plans aren’t the point, that the point is that he can cast aging spells.

“Turning as old as Gaius overnight isn’t going to help anything,” Arthur says.

“You don’t have to look as old as Gaius! I can do it gradually!”

Initial experiments make Arthur doubt the validity of this claim. These experiments also make him question how Merlin’s managed to stay alive and undiscovered for this long, although the fact that they got to this point is proof that Merlin hasn’t been totally successful at either, so perhaps that answers that question after all.

(The spell does work.)

(Eventually.)


End file.
